Provo • An energizing season-opening win over Arizona had revitalized a fanbase still sagging from last year’s disappointing season, so BYU football officials were anticipating a larger-than-normal crowd for their home opener against the Pac-12’s California on a beautiful late-summer evening in early September.
Announced attendance was just 52,602 for a game the Bears won, 21-18. The attendance count was fewer than in all but two games last season. The late-season contests against San Jose State (46,451) and UMass (51,355) came when the Cougars were just playing out the schedule.
That San Jose State crowd, interestingly, was the smallest crowd to attend a football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium since the stadium was expanded in 1982.